Victims would agree: Ferdinand Manning Jr. should not have been released from prison one minute before his 3-year term for a child sex crime was served in full. But he was, and less than 3 years after he was sentenced, he sexually abused a child under 12.
On Aug. 31, 1984, Manning was sent to prison for 3 years for the crime of assault with intent to rape a child. He was taken to the Federal Correctional Institute in Fort Worth, Texas.Manning is in the federal court system because his crimes have taken place on the Uintah-Ouray Indian Reservation, which is in the jurisdiction of the federal government.
Before 3 years had passed since the judge imposed that sentence, Manning was back near Fort Duchesne and had committed child sex abuse with a minor under the age of 12.
The indictment says that on July 1, 1987, near Fort Duchesne, Manning "engaged in sexual contact with another person under the age of 12." He pleaded guilty and U.S. District Judge David K. Winder sentenced him to 5 years in prison on that charge.
The 57-year-old man has a lengthy criminal record.
As U.S. Magistrate Ronald N. Boyce noted after Manning's indictment in February, Manning was "unemployed, has over 100 tribal charges and over five convictions and a prior criminal conviction for assault with intent to rape, and has just been released from prison.
"The defendant is a danger to the community."
Manning's arrest record dates to 1953, with many convictions - for being drunk and disorderly, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and escape.
In the past three and a half decades, the only years in which he was not arrested were 1957, 1959, 1960, 1967, 1973, 1978, 1985 and 1986. He was in the Fort Worth prison during the last 2 years.
When Anderson sent him to prison in 1984, he ordered that Manning was to obtain treatment for alcohol abuse.
On Jan. 5, 1985, Anderson denied a motion for a reduction of his sentence.
Manning was released from the Fort Worth prison on July 18, 1986, after serving less than 2 years of his 3-year sentence.